Spain covers an area of some 506 000 km2 and has a population of just over 41 million. It is a high-income country (according to World Bank criteria) and devotes 7.5% of its gross domestic product to health.

The Korean peninsula is located between China and Japan. After the Second World War, the Republic of Korea was established in the southern half of the Korean peninsula. South Korea has a total area of 98 480 km2 and a population of 48 598 175 (July 2004 estimate). The per capita gross domestic product (GDP), in terms of purchasing power parity, is US$17 700 (2003 estimate) (Central Intelligence Agency, 2004). The illiteracy rate (among those aged over 15 years) is 1.9% (0.7% for males and 3% for females) (2003 estimate). Life expectancy at birth is 75.6 years (72.0 years for males and 79.5 years for females) and the infant mortality rate is 7.2 per 1000 births (2004 estimate). The unemployment rate is 3.4% (2003 estimate). The proportion of the population aged 65 and over is currently 8.7% (2004 estimate) (Korea National Statistics Office, 2003). Over 40% of the total Korean population (i.e. some 20 million) lives in Seoul and its vicinity. South Korea is highly urbanised and modernised. Besides central government, local government is based on seven metropolitan cities and nine provinces.

Mongolia is a country with an approximate area of 1.5 million km2. Its population is 2.5 million, nearly 90% of whom are ethnically Mongolian. Khalkh Mongols form the largest subgroup (approximately 79% of the population); the next largest subgroup is the Kazakhs (5.3%), followed by smaller groups such as Tuvins, Uzbeks, Uighurs, Russian and Chinese. The population is young, with 35.9% under the age of 15 years. The official language is Mongolian. Just under half the population live in rural areas and around a fifth live a nomadic life. About 80% of the land area is suitable for agriculture, mostly for animal husbandry.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is located in the Middle East between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Iran's total land area is 1 648 000 km2. Its total population in 2003 was about 68 920 000 (UNICEF, 2003). The population growth rate is 1.41%. Of the total population, 60.4% live in urban and 39.6% in rural areas (Yasamy et al, 2001).

Following a 10-year war of liberation (fought by the Mau Mau against the British), Kenya attained full independence from colonial rule in 1963. For 10 years the country enjoyed rapid economic growth (6–7% per annum) but this slowed steadily to near stagnation in the 1990s. Poor governance, abuse of human rights, internal displacements of citizens, large numbers of refugees from neighbouring countries and the AIDS pandemic conspired to reduce Kenyans’ life expectancy to 47 years (in the UK it is presently 77 years). Some 42% of the population now live below the poverty line, and 26% of Kenyans exist on less than US$1 per day. The annual per capita income in Kenya is US$360 (in the UK it is $24 000) (World Bank, 2002). AIDS currently has an estimated prevalence rate of 12%. In large parts of rural Kenya many sexually active adults are unable to work, and elderly grandparents are left to look after orphaned children (some already infected with HIV), as they struggle to deal with their own grief for the loss of many of their own children. In December 2002 a new government was elected, which gives some grounds for optimism in an otherwise bleak situation.

Romania is now in a period of transition from communism to democracy. Geographically, Romania, like other Eastern European countries, is on the border between the Western world and the Middle East and Asia; until December 1989 it was behind the ‘Iron Curtain’.

The Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela covers 916 445 km2; to the north is the Caribbean Sea, to the south-east the Amazonian region and the plains of Brazil and Colombia, and to the west the Andes and the Colombian Guajira peninsula. Its estimated population (2004) is 25 226 million, which is concentrated along the north coastal area, where the population density exceeds 200 inhabitants per km2; most of the territory remains almost inhabited (fewer than 6 inhabitants per km2), in particular the border areas. The population is mainly urban: 70% live in cities with more than 50 000 inhabitants.

Uganda is a landlocked developing country in East Africa with an estimated population of 24.8 million people (2002 census). At independence (in 1962) Uganda was a very prosperous and stable country, with enviable medical services in the region. This, however, was destroyed by a tyrant military regime and the subsequent civil wars up to 1986, when the current government took over the reigns of power.

Few countries (if any) have experienced the abundance of material welfare Norway has had for the last decades. The report of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2004 places Norway on the very top of the list of ‘best countries to live in’. One might therefore expect that mental disorders would not thrive in Norway, but this is not so.

Lithuania is a country with an approximate area of 65 000 km2. Its population is 3.422 million, and the gender ratio (expressed as men per 100 women) is 87. The proportion of the population under the age of 15 years is 18%, and the proportion above the age of 60 years is 20%. The literacy rate is 99.6% for both men and women. The country is in the higher middle-income group (by World Bank 2004 criteria).

Malaysia is a tropical country in the heart of South East Asia, at the crossroads of the ancient east–west sea trade routes. Although independent from British colonial rule only in 1957, it has a recorded history dating back to at least the first century CE, when the region was already the source of valuable mineral and forest produce that found markets in China, India and further west.

Culture is a socially shared, trans-generationally transmitted system of implicit values, beliefs and attitudes and explicit behavioural practices (Kroeber & Kluckhohn, 1952). It includes religion. Culturally based assumptions infiltrate the patient–doctor relationship.

What is ‘mental health’ during the societal crisis and upheaval occasioned by war? Perhaps the primary psychological effect of war on victims generally is through their witnessing the destruction of a social world embodying their history, identity, values and roles of everyday life. Such suffering has largely to be resolved collectively, in this same social world, albeit one which has been intentionally weakened. Thus, as the World Health Organization and other authorities confirm, the major thrust of humanitarian interventions must be towards the depleted social fabric and its institutions, for herein lie the sources of resilience and capacity for recovery for all (Kawachi & Berkman, 2000). Beyond that, history has shown that social or political reform is the best medicine, and for victims of oppressive violence this means acknowledgement and justice (Summerfield, 2002).

Australia, a vast continent of 7 700 000 km2 (including the island state of Tasmania), is roughly the size of Western Europe or mainland USA, but with a population of only 20.2 million (2004 estimate), mainly concentrated in coastal areas.

East Timor (the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste) occupies the eastern half of the island of Timor, which lies between North Western Australia and the Indonesian archipelago. East Timor has a population of around 860 000. It is predominantly rural and there are few large towns. The country has a largely subsistence agricultural economy; coffee is the principal cash crop. The population is extremely poor, and transport and communications are primitive.

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is a medical specialty society that represents nearly 36 000 psychiatrists from the United States and Canada, as well as around the globe. It is the longest serving medical specialty society. As a leader in the mental health field, the APA continually supports the diagnosis and treatment of patients with mental illnesses, including substance use disorders, and also supports prevention and research. The APA acts as an advocate for psychiatrists and their patients.

The European Society for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (ESCAP) assembles 29 national societies of child and adolescent psychiatry of several countries belonging to the European Union or to its cultural and geographical area. It is the only association that gathers European psychiatrists who work with children and adolescents.

The European Federation of Psychiatric Trainees (EFPT) is an independent federation of national trainee associations; it represents over 12 000 trainees in 19 member countries across Europe. It is run by an annually elected board, comprising the President, Secretary-General, Treasurer, President elect and past President, and is governed by a written constitution.

The terms ‘conversion’, ‘hysteria’ and ‘conversion hysteria’ were used interchangeably to describe a condition characterised by a single somatised symptom, often pseudo-neurological in nature. DSM–III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980) expanded the concept of conversion to generalised symptoms involving loss or alteration of physical functioning suggestive of a physical disorder, along with a clinical indication that the conversion was an expression of psychological conflict or need. The type of symptom or deficit should be specified as: with motor symptom or deficit, with sensory symptom or deficit, with seizure or convulsions, or with mixed presentation (Kaplan & Sadock, 2004).